Away in a Manger
by wafische
Summary: A Christmas Story


A cover of fresh fallen snow blanketed the town of Amity Park, with more pristine white floating gently down in lovely flakes from a thick layer of smooth low clouds. The night was cold as ice, with steam pouring from the mouths of lone walkers and smoke drifting from chimney stacks. Throughout the town little rainbow lights adorned rooftops and evergreen trees, and grand displays of yuletide cheer had been set up along the streets and in shop windows and in the front lawns of homes. 'Twas the eve of the twenty-fourth of December, and all were prepared for the next morning, when the most joyous of days would begin. Even those who did not celebrate Christmas had been touched by the magical atmosphere permeating the air.

Jack Fenton gazed fondly out of the frost-coated window of FentonWorks at the falling snow and serene landscape it had created within Amity Park. Inside the home, a Christmas tree had been lovingly prepared with a star on top and golden trimming, and stockings were hung on the mantel. Maddie sat on the couch reading a book, Jazz was upstairs toiling over her journals, and a roaring fire was blazing in the fireplace, casting the faint sent of pine throughout the room. With a contented sigh Jack reflected over the last few days spent preparing gifts and eating cookings and making everything ready for Santa's arrival – and darn what Maddie said, the old man existed! It had been the first handful of days since this time last year that he hadn't concerned himself with ghosts. Jack had to admit – once a year, it was nice to set aside the research and weapons development and just take time out to celebrate a holiday. And, if it had to be any holiday, he was glad it was this one.

A flurry of movement outside to his left caught his eye, and Jack turned to see Sam and Tucker, bundled up, walking towards his house. In between their arms they carried Danny, wrapped in a blanket and sound asleep. Jack watched as they disappeared from sight for a moment, then came in through the door, sheepish grins on their faces.

"Hey there, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton!" Tucker said through his smile. "Poor Danny was so tired out from helping Sam celebrate Hannukah that we thought we'd just take him home with no parents helping us out whatsoever!"

"Just feel free to go on with whatever you were doing while we carry him upstairs!" Sam said, her voice slightly shaky. The two headed up the stairs, Danny between them.

Jack stared after them as they disappeared behind the upstairs corner. Then, after a moment's pause, he turned to his wife. "Are we out of eggnog again?" he asked.

---

Jazz waited until Sam and Tucker were out of sight from her parents before she stepped out of her room and came running into Danny's bedroom just as Sam and Tucker set her brother down upon his bed. "I heard what you told Mom and Dad downstairs," she gasped. "So what really happened? Did Plasmius attack? Did the Crate Creep come back? Did he get hurt?"

"Calm down Jazz," Sam smiled. "Ghosts don't fight on Christmas. It's a pact. Danny really was at my house, and he just got tired."

"There was a human crook that he had to take care of on the way home, which is what really knocked him out, but no ghosts," Tucker said, grinning as well.

"A crook out on Christmas!?" Jazz frowned. What was wrong with some people?

"Well, he's in jail now," Tucker shrugged.

Danny sturred slightly, seeming to become more comfortable in his sleep, and his sister and friends turned their glances towards him. The crook out on Christmas seemed even more wicked, forcing Danny to fight on the one night of the year when he shouldn't have to! Yet Danny had gone ghost and handled it, just as he would any battle with Skulker or Technus or any other villain. He had been dead tired and his good spirits had been broken, yet he took care of things, like any hero would.

"Well, I should head back," Tuck yawned. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small, wrapped gift. "Merry Christmas, dude," he said to his sleeping friend, leaving the gift on the desk by his bed. "Later!" he smiled, waved, and headed out the door.

"Yeah, I should go home too," Sam sighed. She too drew a small gift from her coat pocket and set it beside Tucker's. As she wished "Merry Christmas, Danny," she reached down to toss a bit of his hair away from his shut eyes before she departed.

His friends gone, Jazz leaned against the doorway and watched her little brother slumber away. In so many ways – ghost-hunting especially – he was closer to his friends than he was to her. Though she knew it was for the best, and always tried to stay back and let him handle things on his own, she still worried for him. Yet he always came through, and he always came back, like tonight.

Danny yawned in his sleep, and Jazz yawned herself. It had been a long day, and she was ready for rest. She also had a small, wrapped present, and she set it beside the other two Danny had received.

"Merry Christmas, little brother," she whispered, kissing Danny on the forehead. She shut off the lights to her brother's room, stepped out, and closed the door.

---

In his eternal time-keeping lair, Clockwork was turning away at the gears on his clock-topped staff, as always. Time never stopped, even at Christmas, and every gear and hand and tick and tock in the chambers was as busy that night as it was every other day of the year. Yet the Master of Time himself was relaxed, content. Even his distant dwelling was touched by the Christmas spirit, and he delighted in the peace of The Ghost Zone as creatures that so often were enemies gathered to make merry throughout the many doors of the realm. And it was Yueltide affairs, not matters of mantaining the universe or preventing disastrous occurences, that Clockwork was working on now.

He watched on his display of time as Jazz shut off the lights and stepped out, leaving Danny alone in his room. Ever since the Observants had made the half-ghost his ward, Clockwork had taken time every once and a while to check up on the boy and see how he was coming along. The Time Lord had yet to be disappointed.

Danny began to snore, and in his sleep spread out all over his head. Clockwork chuckled. The ghost-boy was still such a fourteen-year old child in so many ways. But a very remarkable fourteen-year old child.

The chuckling ceased, but a smile remained on Clockwork's lips as his hand again began to turn the top of his staff. The snow in Amity Park was due to cease in a few minutes. Clockwork slowed the pace of the storm down so that it would continue until after Danny had awoken.

"Merry Christmas, Danny," he said quietly to his ward. With a contented sigh he sweeped his staff in front of himself, and he took himself away from his lair to just above the planet Earth. Clockwork sighed again as he gazed down upon the globe. So much happened down there every day of the year. So much happened that worried the Observants – and occasionally, he himself grew nervous. He was constantly sifting through the past for answers, and gazing into the many possible pathways of the future. But it was those like Danny that let him go about his business with peace of mind.

His eyes now shut, Clockwork let himself drift down towards Earth, his cloak billowing about him as he fell. As a ghost, he was immune to the heat of passing through the atmosphere, and soon found himself falling through clouds. Small, crystalline flakes fluttered about him, and soon began to fall with him as he passed through the bottom of the thick blanket and beheld Amity Park below. He soared upwards just before reaching the bottom of the street, passing just outside Danny's window before journeying back through time towards his lair.

And, though Danny did not hear it in his sleep, a faint sound began to echo throughout the Fenton household as Jack slipped on the radio…

_God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen_

_Let nothing you dismay._

_Remember Christ our Saviour_

_Was born on Christmas Day._

_To save us all from Satan's power_

_When we were gone astray _

_Oh, Tidings of Comfort and Joy…_


End file.
